Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. Purchases 3,034 Shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. $META

Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. lifted its holdings in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 3.3% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 94,596 shares of the social networking company’s stock after purchasing an additional 3,034 shares during the quarter. Meta Platforms comprises 1.6% of Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc.’s holdings, making the stock its 12th biggest position. Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc.’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $69,820,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the business. Whittier Trust Co. grew its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 7.8% in the 2nd quarter. Whittier Trust Co. now owns 231,481 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $170,853,000 after purchasing an additional 16,816 shares during the period. Lafayette Investments Inc. grew its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 1.1% in the 2nd quarter. Lafayette Investments Inc. now owns 28,162 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $20,786,000 after purchasing an additional 304 shares during the period. Divergent Planning LLC acquired a new position in shares of Meta Platforms in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $430,000. Syntegra Private Wealth Group LLC grew its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 27.4% in the 2nd quarter. Syntegra Private Wealth Group LLC now owns 1,735 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $1,280,000 after purchasing an additional 373 shares during the period. Finally, Probity Advisors Inc. grew its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 10.4% in the 2nd quarter. Probity Advisors Inc. now owns 1,686 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $1,245,000 after purchasing an additional 159 shares during the period. 79.91% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on META shares. Truist Financial decreased their price objective on Meta Platforms from $900.00 to $875.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday. Roth Capital reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Thursday. JMP Securities boosted their price objective on Meta Platforms from $750.00 to $900.00 and gave the company a “market outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. Jefferies Financial Group reduced their price target on Meta Platforms from $950.00 to $910.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus reduced their price target on Meta Platforms from $900.00 to $875.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday. Four analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-seven have given a Buy rating and six have given a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Meta Platforms currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $827.60.

Meta Platforms Trading Down 2.7%

Meta Platforms stock opened at $648.35 on Friday. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $738.28 and a 200-day moving average of $696.73. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a one year low of $479.80 and a one year high of $796.25. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15, a current ratio of 1.98 and a quick ratio of 1.97. The company has a market cap of $1.63 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.64, a P/E/G ratio of 1.41 and a beta of 1.20.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 29th. The social networking company reported $7.25 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $6.74 by $0.51. The company had revenue of $51.24 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $49.34 billion. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 39.35% and a net margin of 30.89%.The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 26.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $6.03 EPS. Meta Platforms has set its Q4 2025 guidance at EPS. On average, equities analysts expect that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 29th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 22nd were issued a $0.525 dividend. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 22nd. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio is presently 9.28%.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 519 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, October 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $753.00, for a total value of $390,807.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 27,756 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $20,900,268. This represents a 1.84% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, COO Javier Olivan sold 517 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, October 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $749.57, for a total value of $387,527.69. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer directly owned 7,958 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,965,078.06. The trade was a 6.10% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 198,335 shares of company stock valued at $153,047,009. 13.61% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Meta Platforms Profile

Meta Platforms, Inc engages in the development of products that enable people to connect and share with friends and family through mobile devices, personal computers, virtual reality headsets, and wearables worldwide. It operates in two segments, Family of Apps and Reality Labs. The Family of Apps segment offers Facebook, which enables people to share, discuss, discover, and connect with interests; Instagram, a community for sharing photos, videos, and private messages, as well as feed, stories, reels, video, live, and shops; Messenger, a messaging application for people to connect with friends, family, communities, and businesses across platforms and devices through text, audio, and video calls; and WhatsApp, a messaging application that is used by people and businesses to communicate and transact privately.